Woman rejects police apology after they failed to respond to her 125 reports of stalking

Helen Pearson contacted the police 125 times to report her stalker – but it wasn’t until she was stabbed with a pair of scissors that her complaints were taken seriously.

Suffering under a four-year campaign of tyranny under the helm of her neighbour, Joseph Willis, Pearson has finally received an apology from the police for not responding to the reports that could have stopped her being near-fatally stabbed by Willis in an Exeter graveyard.

However she says it is too little, too late.

“We didn't need 125 crimes before an attack for the [stalker’s] face to be shown,” Pearson told the BBC.

Four out of five of every stalking victims are women

She continued to criticise police for failing to take her complaints seriously until after the violent attack occurred.

“I feel like that shouldn't have happened, it shouldn't have been like that,” said Pearson.

“All I can hope is that what happened to me means police officers get more training and deal with victims of stalking better - so that no-one else has to go through what I did.”